Elaine Warburton of Genetics & Health has just posted an article on the Hawks et al. (2007) paper [Humans on evolutionary fast track].Unfortunately, she choose to illustrate it with the image shown on the right. This is a misleading representation of human evolution because it implies a linear change, or progress, from chimpanzees to humans. The late Stephen Jay Gould railed about this icon on several occasions—most notably in the opening chapter of Wonderful Life. He would be tuning over in his grave if he knew that Elaine had used such an icon.
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